May 9, 2015

Remembering Mets History: (1999) Roger Cedeno Steals Four Bases

May 14th 1999: On a Friday night at Veterans Stadium, in Philadelphia a crowd of 21,000 came to see Bobby Valentines Mets' beat Terry Francona's Phillies 7-3.
The Mets & Phils were battling for second place at the time. The Mets only 1 1/2 games behind The Atlanta Braves with the Phils just a half game behind the Mets.

Mets pitcher; Masato Yoshii, got his third win of the year, with Turk Wendell, Armondo Benitez, & John Franco all helping out from the bullpen. Philadelphia's Chad Ojea took the loss.

Although the Mets hit three home runs; John Olerud (his 7th), Edgardo Alfonzo (his 6th) & Robin Ventura (his 5th) it was Roger Cedeno who stole the show, making his place in Mets history.
Cedeno became only the second Met (the other being Vince Coleman) to steal four bases in a single game.

Cedeno had a field day off Phillie pitching & catcher Mike Lieberthal.
In the 1st inning Cedeno led off the game, reaching on an error. He advanced to second & then stole third base, John Olerud's followed with a two run HR.

In the 5th inning, he singled & stole second, his second steal of the night. He would score on an Olerud sac fly.

In the 9th inning he singled again, this time off Wayne Gnomes. He followed with two more quick swipes, taking second base & then third base. He would score on an Edgardo Alfonzo ground out.
All in all, Cedeno went 2-5 with four steals, and two runs scored.

He would end up with 66 steals on the season and bat .313. In the off season he was traded along with Octavio Dotel in exchange for Mike Hampton & Derek Bell. The Mets won the 1999 wild card & got within two games of the World Series.